Sverige

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National-international comparison
It may be relevant to compare local disaster response
operations and crisis communications with similar
activities at national and international/global level.
The question becomes what similarities and differences
exist. An introductory hypothesis for this study has
been that the problems related to disasters increase as
dimensions become more global, or inversely that less
problems are encountered in relation to local disasters
compared to national and especially international
disasters.
In one respect, an international and global disaster
is always more problematic by nature because both
the event and/or the resulting effects cross several geographical
levels and are more complex than an event
that is confined to local level. Several countries are
involved in the disaster with different cultures and different
legal and operational frameworks.
Sweden has been involved in at least four international
disasters during recent decades – Chernobyl
1986, the Estonia Ferry disaster in 1994, the terror
attacks in the United States in 2001 and the tsunami
disaster in 2004 (Other events that attracted international
or multinational coverage during this period
include the BSE outbreak and the anthrax letters in
2001). These events took place in other countries but
had local consequences in Sweden. In one case – the
Gothenburg disco fire in 1998 – the situation was reversed.
A local event had a multinational impact because
people from different national groups were directly
affected which meant that their countries were
indirectly affected.
The international disasters must be considered serious
and problematic events for Sweden, with political,
management and communication repercussions (with
reservation for the terror attacks, which were hardly
a burden for Sweden). The absolute majority of these
local events – with only local or regional scope – can
hardly be classed as the same problematic type. Although
some of them have been complex in that they
involved several sectors and required a large-scale response,
they have not led to more serious conflicts or
other problems. Thus far the thesis that problems increase
in relation to extreme events with an international/global
nature is confirmed.
It can also be assumed that the political dimension
increases with the national and particularly international
scope of a disaster. At a local level, political and
policy expressions are limited, especially ideologically
but also in terms of (discussion of) focus decisions,
etc. The political arena is incorporated into the operational
arena and assumes a disaster response role. The
interpretation of Dutch researchers that disasters are
strong political phenomena is hardly applicable for
the two local disasters that were studied, except that
politicians are more or less actively involved in the response
operation and crisis communications.
Public trust in the authorities and politics at local
level has hardly been damaged by how these two
events were handled. If anything, this study shows in
a number of cases how public trust was strengthened
by the disasters, even though this not been specifically
studied. This corresponds to increased public trust in
Swedish politicians that was measured after the September
11 attacks (Holmberg & Weibull 2003), where
the manner in which politicians handled the event was
considered acceptable. Exceptions to increased trust
can be noted, however, in the case of Chernobyl at
the beginning of the studied period and the murder
of a child during the latter part of the period (likewise
the Government’s tsunami response at national
level). Obvious exceptions at local level can also be
noted for some public service companies, such as power
and telecom providers in connection with the January
storm.
To round off the international aspect, it can be said
that Sweden has not experienced any truly serious